Five for H
by Tigerlily06
Summary: Five ficlets staring Horatio. The last one is a missing scene story for the S4 episode Under Suspicion.


Five stories I wrote for the FanFic100 at LiveJournal. I don't own CSI:Miami or Ben and Jerry's. Not making any money off of this.

Read over by theteej2andcaptnofmyheart

Title: **First Impressions**

Word Count: 395

Rating: Everyone

Rhonda walked into the Miami-Dade Crime Lab five minutes before her interview smarting over the fact that she had gotten another speeding ticket. Nothing was going right for her, but she just put a smile on her face as she wiped her sweaty palms on her pants legs.

Paula looked up from transcribing a message to see her approach the Reception desk. "You here to see Speed, Rhonnie?" she asked with a warm smile.

"Actually, I'm here for an interview with the boss man, Paula," she informed her friend. She had never met Horatio Caine the few times she had been at the lab to rescue Speed from his tendency to overwork. "Speed talked me into trying for Megan Donner's job."

"That's fantastic," Paula remarked. "Let's get you signed in and I'll see if I can find Horatio."

"Find?" Rhonda signed the clipboard and accepted a visitor's pass. She clipped it to the lapel of her suit jacket and leaned on the desk settling in for a wait. "Does he have a habit of dropping off the face of the planet?"

"He had a pretty full schedule this morning," Paula said, with a laugh. "A budget meeting and court, so I guess you could say that's disappearing off the planet."

"I doubt that is going to leave him in a good mood," Rhonda countered just as the elevator dinged and the doors open. She turned around and had to remind herself to breathe as she locked eyes with the deepest blue eyes she had ever seen.

Paula bit back a smile as she watched Rhonda's reaction to Horatio Caine as he strolled out of the elevator. She noted his neutral expression as he pocketed his sunglasses and felt the tiniest bit sorry for her friend. He wasn't in a good mood just as Rhonda had predicted.

"Good morning, Miss," he said in a polite tone as he accepted a stack of messages from Paula. He slipped the messages in another pocket to be gone through later.

"Rhonda Morgan," Rhonda introduced herself, holding out her hand. "We were scheduled to meet this morning to discuss the opening you have."

Horatio lightly took her slim hand in his and briefly shook it. He casually noted the visitor's badge clipped to her suit jacket before realizing that she was a friend of Speed's. He had seen her with Speed in the break room the other night when he had finally managed to breakaway from the backlog of paperwork. "Ahh, yes," he remarked with a slight smile. "You are Speed's friend."

"Guilty as charged," Rhonda said with a shrug.

This got a wry chuckle from Horatio. "Right this way, Miss Morgan," he said as he ushered her past the Reception desk and up to his office.

"It's Rhonda, Lieutenant." She noticed his hand hovering near the small of her back and knew this was the beginning of an interesting friendship.

Title: **Through The Lens**

Word Count: 496

Rating: PG-13

With an uncharacteristic oath, Horatio tossed the case file he had been trying to read on his desk. He leaned back in his chair and closed his tired eyes.

His mind drifted back to the appointment he had had earlier in the day.

(Flashback)

_Horatio, it's time you faced up to the fact that you need glasses._

_I just need an assistant to read all the damn paperwork, Mick._

_How old are you?_

_46_

_Our eyesight starts going down hill at 40._

_And your point is?_

_Quit being vain._

He had laughed at that. Only Rhonda called him that and usually in teasing.

_I don't like wearing glasses and never have. Call it a phobia._

_What are those in your hand?_

_That's different._

_How?_

_They just are._

Mick had sighed, but in the end he had gotten his way

(End of Flashback)

"Horatio?" he heard someone inquired from the doorway.

"Hmm?" He didn't bother to open his eyes. He knew it was Rhonda Morgan.

"Dr. MacKenzie dropped a package off for you," she explained. She slipped into the office quietly closing the door behind her.

"Oh joy," he muttered. He opened his eyes and caught sight of Rhonda standing near his desk. In her hands was something that looked suspiciously like an eyeglasses' case.

"You are starting to sound like me," she teaseed him.

"And this is bad, how?" he inquired, turning on the charm.

"The head of the crime lab shouldn't suddenly start sounding like a hick from the hills of Western Maryland," she informed him. She set the case in the middle of his desk where he couldn't fail to notice it. She had taken a peek inside and thought the glasses would make him appear distinguished, but refrain from saying so. "But you are avoiding the main issue, right now."

"Do you blame me?" he countered. He looked everywhere but at the case. To him, wearing glasses to read or to do fine work around the lab was paramount to giving in; to admitting that he was getting old.

"No," she murmured. She watched his internal struggle all too aware of what having reading glasses meant to him. She had faced the same dilemma several years before, and now her reading glasses were only a minor irritant. "Try 'em out. You'll find out they aren't all that bad."

"Maybe later," he hedged. He wouldn't wear them around anyone. He didn't want to appear vulnerable or weak, so Mick had been right to accuse him of being vain. "I think I have had enough of work for one day. Care to join me for dinner?"

Rhonda smiled. "I just got the sudden hankering for Italian."

Horatio snicker in derision. "And you call me predictable."

"I never said you were _predictable_, Lieutenant," she teased as she turned toward the door. She opened it and looked back over her shoulder. "Just easy to _read_."

Horatio winced. He picked up the case and was about to slip it in his middle desk drawer when what Rhonda said next stopped him.

"Have I ever told you that I find guys who wear glasses incredibly sexy?"

"No," he whispered.

"Why don't ya bring those along and find out," she suggested with a hint of seduction in her rich voice. She strolled out the door and Horatio slipped the case in his inside jacket pocket before following her.

Title: **Early Morning Cravings**

Word Count: 211

Rating: PG-13

Rain.

It found its way down the collar of his raincoat and sent a chill down his back as he sprinted to the front door of his condo. The door opened and he hurried in closing it quickly behind him. He shook off the rain before handing over to his lover a plastic bag.

"You look like a drowned rat, Horatio," Rhonda commented as she accepted the bag. She slipped into the kitchen and put the contents of the bag in the freezer.

Horatio snickered in derision. He shrugged out of his raincoat and hung it up to dry before following Rhonda into the kitchen.

"As much as I love you, Slim," he drawled, running a hand through his wet hair. He cornered her in the nook between the sink and the stove. "The next time you get a desire for Ben and Jerry's at 3am, you can go get it yourself."

"For someone who considers chocolate just another dessert," she countered with a sly smile as she admired his slightly damp t-shirt and jeans. "You shouldn't have eaten my last pint, Red."

"You got an answer for everything don't you?"

"You better believe it," she retorted before pulling his head down and capturing his lips in a hungry kiss.

Title:** Fears**

Word Count: 371

Rating: PG-13

Horatio sat on his patio listening to the late afternoon approaching storm. The thunder rumbled through the air. He could feel it in his bones and he smiled. He loved thunderstorms.

Rhonda stood in the doorway that led to the patio fighting the urge to run and bury herself under the covers of their bed. She was petrified of thunderstorms, and it was seeing Horatio enjoying the approaching one that kept her in one place.

To her, Horatio looked happy and content. This was something that he hadn't been of late, and she silently cursed Rick Stetler. The man had been raking up Horatio's past.

It was the rising wind that turned her thoughts away from Stetler and back to her silly (yet, very real) fear. It blew her hair about and caused a cold chill to run down her back. She pushed her hair out of her eyes just as the first fat drops of rain hit the patio.

Horatio retreated to the doorway. He slipped his arms around her waist and tugged her into a warm embrace. He could feel the shivers of fear begin to rack her slender body.

"You don't have to do this," he whispered in her ear.

"Yes, I do," she whispered back. "It's silly to be afraid of thunder."

"No more so than being afraid of clowns." He was trying to take her mind of her fear.

"That's pathetic," she groused, grateful for Horatio's attempt to distract her.

"I dare you to tell that to Speed."

Her chuckle turned into a yelp when a huge streak of lightening lit up the sky followed by a loud rumble of thunder. She jumped and Horatio tightened his hold on her.

"This ridiculous," she muttered. "I can face down a gun wielding maniac..."

"Come on," he urged. He closed the sliding glass door before walking her over to the couch. He sat down and pulled her onto his lap.

Rhonda felt foolish, but snuggled closer. She buried her head into his soft, faded demin shirt. "You are a lot better to hold onto than a pillow," she murmured.

Horatio stroked her back and whispered in her hair his undying love waiting for the storm to end, so he could show her.

Title: **Humpty Dumpty**

Word Count: 346

Rating: Everyone

The door closed with a click.

Horatio leaned against it with a sigh of relief. The mask he had donned that morning to keep the pain locked up inside cracked and fell to pieces at his feet. He bowed his head and let the tears flow. Tears he couldn't publicly shed for a person who had only been briefly in his life.

Her funeral had been that morning. He had secretly attended knowing her family and friends wouldn't want him around. He had been cleared of her murder, but it would take some time before the stain was removed from his name.

Sobs tore at him and he slid unknowingly to the floor.

Rachel Turner.

They had met one balmy afternoon on the steps of the courthouse. He was leaving after a grueling morning of testimony and she had been arriving to defend a down-on-his-heels client.

They ran into each other a few more times before he worked up the courage to ask her out for a drink. She accepted and they began to see each other.

Their last night together had been nice. She had cooked him dinner. They never got a chance to chat because he had received an urgent phone call and had to leave.

Three days later, she was being pulled out of the Tamiami Canal.

Carelessness and inattention on his part had allowed an old enemy to exact a modicum of revenge. The fact that that enemy was still free because of another enemy ate at Horatio.

The tears subsided. Horatio found himself on the floor still leaning against his front door with his legs drawn up to his chest. He wiped the last few tears from his eyes. He felt like Humpty Dumpty; a broken shell of a man.

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall," he recited to himself in a hoarse whisper. "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men..."

He sighed before slowly pulling himself to his feet. He, then, shakily went about putting himself back together...again.

That's it for now folks, so if you likey please drop me some feedback. Pretty Please?


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